Dwarfcraft Devices Releases Pitch Shifter

Dwarfcraft has always had an affinity for the weird and glitchy. This release tops them all. What started out as a single stage pitch shifter, a la the Pitchgrinder, the Wizard of Pitch became something brand new.

The pedal’s resolution has been cranked up to 32 bits from the ‘Grinder’s 8, but has the same lo-fi sound. The “speed” control, when set to zero, will behave like a standard pitch shifter, but as you turn up the speed the output will cross fade between the wet and dry signals, allowing for beautiful moving soundscapes, or stimulating modulation at higher rates.

The “Bender” toggle engages a doppler type effect, in which the pitch falls in conjunction with the input signal’s decay. Until the pedal reaches the end of it’s shifting range, where it starts again.

Engaging the “Steps” toggle will further confuse the Wizard, snapping to pitches, rather than sliding, and creating almost random arpeggios. When the Bender mode is active, the speed knob will control the rate of the pitch changes, rather than a cross fade.

While the pedal is perfectly useful for traditional pitch shifting, it is much more at home creating new sounds for adventurous musicians.

This thing should probably be called the Drama Queen, given the history. This monster pedal combines a version of the classic Superfuzz circuit with a Dwarfcraft Eau Claire Thunder, along side an EQ that will get you +/- 10db on both treble and bass. You can get those old school Superfuzz tones, from raspy classic rock to a mid-scooped doomy fuzz. On the ECT side, you can get the other end of the spectrum - warm and wooly, with plenty of aggressive distortion on tap. The effortless mixing of 3 distinct signals allows for brand new sounds as well as familiar combinations that used to require a separate mixer. For the bass crowd, Dwarfcraft added a clean blend with discrete volume control. All that and an auxiliary clean output for signal splitting and you have the fuzz pedal to end all fuzz pedals.

Have you ever felt the need for a little more flexibility in your FX signal chain? The Dwarfcraft Paraloop is here for you! The Paraloop features two effects loops. Each of them is “normally closed”meaning a buffered clean signal comes through. Your “send level” knob allows you a boost intoboth loops, or if they are empty, just an overall volume boost (or attenuation) when the pedal isengaged. This handy little box also features the following possibilities:

The Minivan is Dwarfcraft’s first foray in to delay territory. As usual, they have a few tricks up their sleeves. The Minivan can get those traditional, dark echo sounds, but it can also get into slow and mangled territory if you crank up it up. You want run away self-oscillation? It’ll do that too.

For those inclined to experiment with their signal chain, they added an insert FX loop so you can make your own fun. Plug in an expression pedal to control the feedback amount or use a stereo 1/4” to dual mono 1/4” cable to insert effects into the delay line of the Minivan. For example, putting a pitch shifter in the loop will shift each repeated signal up as it passes through. This is a great way to create otherworldly sounds, and also a great way to kill an afternoon playing with every pedal you own in the loop.